Client devices as terminal devices, which cause the server device to perform an original task, for example a deposit and withdrawal processing task at banks, are connected to a server device as an information processing apparatus, and the server performs the original task. To such a server device, not only a client device that performs its original task but also a system-controlling client device as a system-controlling terminal device are connected. That server device obtains apparatus information consisting of the status of the sensor of each unit in the server device or the like in response to a request from a system-controlling client, and transmits the obtained apparatus information to a system-controlling client device. The apparatus information is displayed at the system-controlling client device, and the apparatus information is used by an operator for monitoring whether the server device is operating normally. As the status of the server device changes from moment to moment, the system-controlling client device transmits a new request to the server device at constant intervals (for example, at intervals of 30 seconds), and obtains new apparatus information from the server device to update the display.
Here, there are some cases where several system-controlling client devices are connected to a single server device. In such cases, the load for collecting apparatus information increases; for example, the server device needs to obtain the status of the sensor of each unit in the server device in response to the requests from the several client devices. If an attempt is made to reduce the load, inconvenience is caused; for example, the number of system-controlling client devices that can be simultaneously connected is limited.
A technique has been proposed in which when an event occurs to one of a plurality of terminal devices as a plurality of client devices that are connected to the server device through the network as a communication path, that event is reflected on all the terminal devices. This technique has been developed such that the display format will be the same among the terminal devices. Moreover, a technique in which the same information is simultaneously displayed on the terminal devices with different formats has been proposed.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-243165    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 03-268048